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The True Architectural Origin of Taj Mahal

What is the true
architectural origin of this famous site? Marvin Mills is a professional
architect who has taught the history and theory of architecture at a number of
American universities.

Taj builders used Harappan measurement units

Designers of the 17th
century Taj Mahal, employed the same unit of measurement used by the Harappan civilization of 2000 BC,
according to a new study reported in the latest issue of Current Science.The study by R.
Balasubramaniam of the Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur, has for the first time shown that the unit of length called angulam — mentioned in Kautilya’s treatise Arthasastra dated 300 BC — was
used without a break by Indian builders for over 3,900 years until the British
imposed their units in the 18th century.

The ancient angulam has been found to be equal to
1.763 modern centimetres, according to Balasubramaniam, a professor of
materials and metallurgical engineering. He has carried out dimensional analysis
of some of India ’s historical structures, built during different times, to
identify the measuring units used in their engineering plans.He says he was
surprised that angulam and its multiples vitasti (12 angulams) and dhanus (108
angulams) have been used as the unit of measurement right from the Harappan
times till the pre-modern era when the Taj was built.Balasubramaniam, who last
year studied the dimensions of the 1,600-year-old Delhi Iron Pillar at the
Qutub Minar complex, found that angulam and its multiple dhanus were used as
the basic units of length in its design. For example, the total height of the
pillar is exactly 4 dhanus, adds Balasubramaniam. And now in a paper published
in Current Science, Balasubramaniam has shown that the modular plan of the Taj
Mahal complex is based on use of grids of sides measuring 60 and 90 vitasti.He says the study has
established that the design and architecture of the Taj is based on traditional
Indian units codified in Arthasastra and that "there is nothing
foreign" in its design."The fact that the
unit of angulam of 1.763 cm could match very well the dimensions of
historical monuments establishes the continuity of India’s engineering
tradition through the ages for as long as 3,900 years," says
Balasubramaniam in his paper. "With the new knowledge we can analyse all
the important ancient structures in India ," he says, and hopes
the findings "will open a new chapter in the study of metrology (science
of measurements)". But how did the angulam tradition remain unbroken for
so long? As quoted in the website of Nature India , Balasubramaniam believes
the workers from the Harappan days were perhaps using some kind of scale
"that was handed over through generations".